All Things

There are new abortion-related headlines happening everyday. It’s easy to grow weary and feel like nothing can be done. But it’s important that we remain aware of the preeminent human rights violation and holocaust of our day. As painful as it is, as apathetic as we are tempted to become, you and I must remain informed. The reality is, at least half of all Americans are pro-life (more than half, by many measures) and yet our culture careens towards a fully anti-life climate more each day. On this episode we look at five headlines from just this past week and also discuss why it is that we are moving in an anti-life direction, when it’s not what most of us want. I look at how abortion is not empowering, but rather exploitive and how it has done so much harm in the past couple generations that people are largely silent with regret and remorse. The truth is, there is freedom and forgiveness available to those who confess their sin and receive Jesus’s payment for it. May that forgiveness lead to a movement of men and women who openly share and even shout the truth: abortion does not empower, it exploits.

The following links helped to create this episode:

Investigative Footage: Watch the summary videos of specific undercover meetings from CMP’s Human Capital project documenting Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby body parts. Full footage for each encounter is also available. - Center for Medical Progress

The Briefing - Albert Mohler

Young Ohio Mother Acquitted of Killing Her Newborn Baby, But Guilty of 'Corpse Abuse' - TIME

Criminal Hearing Begins Over Undercover Video by Abortion Foes - Courthouse News Service

In Court Hearing, Planned Parenthood Employee Admits To Trafficking In Baby Body Parts - The Federalist

Why not fight for abortion survivors? - WORLD

A punitive state: California takes David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt to court for their pro-life work - WORLD

David Daleiden’s day in court - The World and Everything in It

StemExpress CEO admits selling beating baby hearts, intact baby heads in Daleiden-Merritt hearing - Catholic Citizens

An Ohio woman who buried her newborn in the backyard will serve no more jail time - CNN

Ever heard of Therapeutic Deism? It’s a worldview worth understanding and exploring because it’s everywhere. In the early 2000s the church identified and rightly tried to correct the widely held values of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. But now, it’s Progressive Therapeutic Deism—the belief that there is a God who wants you to be happy and that happens when you are your most authentic self. While this worldview sounds attractive and is peddled and reaffirmed everywhere, it is leading to our ruin. PTD falls short, leaving us discouraged and exhausted and far from the Lord. This episode of All Things explores PTD, that we might rightly discern it, renew our minds, and enjoy abundant life found only in Christ.

The following sources helped to create this episode:

The Therapeutic Gospel - 9Marks, David Powlison

The Theology of Jen Hatmaker, With Anne Kennedy—The Alisa Childers Podcast #52 - Alisa Childers with Anne Kennedy

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism—the New American Religion - Albert Mohler

Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers - Smith and Lundquist Denton

You and I already know our constant use of screens can negatively affect us. In fact, if we’re honest, we’re probably using screens far more to our detriment than to our benefit. On this episode of All Things, we remember how screens can harm our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health and we look at some ways to mitigate the damage in our own lives and the lives of our kids.

The following resources helped with the creation of this episode:

Screens Are Changing the Way We Read Scripture - Christianity Today

Your paper brain and your Kindle brain aren't the same thing - PRI

It's Time to Put My Phone in the Other Room - Jen Oshman

Your Smartphone Is Making You Stupid - Life Hacker

Twelve Ways Your Phone is Changing You - Tony Reinke

Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age - Tony Reinke

The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place - Andy Crouch

A Cell Phone Agreement for the Christian Teen - Your Mom Has a Blog

People spend most of their waking hours staring at screens - MarketWatch

Health experts say parents need to drastically cut kids' screen time - CBS News

The Harmful Effects of Too Much Screen Time for Kids - Very Well Family

You and I already know our constant use of screens can negatively affect us. In fact, if we’re honest, we’re probably using screens far more to our detriment than to our benefit. On this episode of All Things, we remember how screens can harm our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional health and we look at some ways to mitigate the damage in our own lives and the lives of our kids.

The following resources helped with the creation of this episode:

Screens Are Changing the Way We Read Scripture - Christianity Today

Your paper brain and your Kindle brain aren't the same thing - PRI

It's Time to Put My Phone in the Other Room - Jen Oshman

Your Smartphone Is Making You Stupid - Life Hacker

Twelve Ways Your Phone is Changing You - Tony Reinke

Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age - Tony Reinke

The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place - Andy Crouch

A Cell Phone Agreement for the Christian Teen - Your Mom Has a Blog

People spend most of their waking hours staring at screens - MarketWatch

Health experts say parents need to drastically cut kids' screen time - CBS News

The Harmful Effects of Too Much Screen Time for Kids - Very Well Family

Our nation is experiencing an embryonic storage crisis. There are hundreds of thousands of embryos created through IVF that have been abandoned in fertility clinics around the country. Why? What has led to this surplus and abandonment of our tiniest humans? And how should Christians think about IVF? Couples in the church who struggle with infertility often feel isolated and even ashamed. They feel like no one is talking about fertility treatment options. This should not be so. On this episode of All Things, we take time to examine the issues from a number of perspectives: issues of the heart, issues in marriage, what the Bible has to say, and what science and medicine and statistics can offer us. There are no solid answers offered here, as mature and thoughtful Christians land on all sides. Nonetheless, we try to talk it through and weigh things from various angles. May we in the church be ready for these conversations, even as we come to varying conclusions. Christians, above all, should be ready for conversations about life.

The following sources helped to create the content of this episode:

More than 8 million babies born from IVF since the world's first in 1978 - Science Daily

Nation's fertility clinics struggle with a growing number of abandoned embryos - NBC News

Why Are Christian Parents Abandoning Their Children? - TGC

Breaking Evangelicalism’s Silence on IVF - TGC

How IVF Can Be Morally Right - TGC

9 Things You Should Know About Infertility - TGC

How would you counsel a couple curious about IVF? - ERLC

Russell Moore on IVF and Embryo Adoption - TGC

Our nation is experiencing an embryonic storage crisis. There are hundreds of thousands of embryos created through IVF that have been abandoned in fertility clinics around the country. Why? What has led to this surplus and abandonment of our tiniest humans? And how should Christians think about IVF? Couples in the church who struggle with infertility often feel isolated and even ashamed. They feel like no one is talking about fertility treatment options. This should not be so. On this episode of All Things, we take time to examine the issues from a number of perspectives: issues of the heart, issues in marriage, what the Bible has to say, and what science and medicine and statistics can offer us. There are no solid answers offered here, as mature and thoughtful Christians land on all sides. Nonetheless, we try to talk it through and weigh things from various angles. May we in the church be ready for these conversations, even as we come to varying conclusions. Christians, above all, should be ready for conversations about life.

The following sources helped to create the content of this episode:

More than 8 million babies born from IVF since the world's first in 1978 - Science Daily

Nation's fertility clinics struggle with a growing number of abandoned embryos - NBC News

Why Are Christian Parents Abandoning Their Children? - TGC

Breaking Evangelicalism’s Silence on IVF - TGC

How IVF Can Be Morally Right - TGC

9 Things You Should Know About Infertility - TGC

How would you counsel a couple curious about IVF? - ERLC

Russell Moore on IVF and Embryo Adoption - TGC

Headlines last week decried the end of Title X funding for Planned Parenthood. The abortion provider claims America’s low-income women will suffer the most—that women will be driven to dangerous back alley abortions and denied life-saving services. They say the Trump administration placed a gag order on their staff, barring free speech and their freedom to provide and promote abortion. Media headlines and talking points since the Trump administration’s upholding of the recent Title X funding rule have been misleading and dishonest. On this episode of All Things, we look at the history of Title X funding, what and who it’s for, how American women in need would fare without the services of Planned Parenthood, and the incredible strength of pro-life pregnancy resource centers. The truth is, Planned Parenthood made the choice to forego limited federal funding to keep providing abortion and the reality is, women are better served at local pregnancy centers anyway. Abortion is our generation’s holocaust and it’s imperative that all citizens understand what’s really going on inside the abortion industry, how it’s funded, and how better services are available elsewhere. As America’s leading abortion provider ramps up its rhetoric, we need to ramp up our knowledge and proactivity on the side of life.

Abortion and Race - Abort73

Planned Parenthood Targets Black Women With Abortion: 79% of Their Clinics are in Minority Neighborhoods - One of Us

March for Life Statement on Ninth Circuit Title X Ruling

Planned Parenthood to withdraw from Title X if Ninth Circuit does not act - Jurist

Statutes and Regulations - Title X Notice of Final Rule - HHHS.gov

BreakPoint: No Abortion Funds for Title X - Breakpoint

The Point: Planned Parenthood Caught Again - Breakpoint

Planned Parenthood Proves Its Deadly Commitment to Abortion by Withdrawing from Title X Funding - The Briefing, Al Mohler

What is a Crisis Pregnancy Center? - Students for Life

Find a Pregnancy Center - Carenet

Planned Parenthood forced to make an impossible choice - CNN Opinion

Planned Parenthood (funding) - Wikipedia

Pro-life Pregnancy Centers Served 2 Million People, Saved Communities $161M in 2017 - Charlotte Lozier Institute (Susan B. Anthony)

Abortion Statistics - National Right to Life

Abortion Is Not an Unforgivable Sin - Jen Oshman

Headlines last week decried the end of Title X funding for Planned Parenthood. The abortion provider claims America’s low-income women will suffer the most—that women will be driven to dangerous back alley abortions and denied life-saving services. They say the Trump administration placed a gag order on their staff, barring free speech and their freedom to provide and promote abortion. Media headlines and talking points since the Trump administration’s upholding of the recent Title X funding rule have been misleading and dishonest. On this episode of All Things, we look at the history of Title X funding, what and who it’s for, how American women in need would fare without the services of Planned Parenthood, and the incredible strength of pro-life pregnancy resource centers. The truth is, Planned Parenthood made the choice to forego limited federal funding to keep providing abortion and the reality is, women are better served at local pregnancy centers anyway. Abortion is our generation’s holocaust and it’s imperative that all citizens understand what’s really going on inside the abortion industry, how it’s funded, and how better services are available elsewhere. As America’s leading abortion provider ramps up its rhetoric, we need to ramp up our knowledge and proactivity on the side of life.

Abortion and Race - Abort73

Planned Parenthood Targets Black Women With Abortion: 79% of Their Clinics are in Minority Neighborhoods - One of Us

March for Life Statement on Ninth Circuit Title X Ruling

Planned Parenthood to withdraw from Title X if Ninth Circuit does not act - Jurist

Statutes and Regulations - Title X Notice of Final Rule - HHHS.gov

BreakPoint: No Abortion Funds for Title X - Breakpoint

The Point: Planned Parenthood Caught Again - Breakpoint

Planned Parenthood Proves Its Deadly Commitment to Abortion by Withdrawing from Title X Funding - The Briefing, Al Mohler

What is a Crisis Pregnancy Center? - Students for Life

Find a Pregnancy Center - Carenet

Planned Parenthood forced to make an impossible choice - CNN Opinion

Planned Parenthood (funding) - Wikipedia

Pro-life Pregnancy Centers Served 2 Million People, Saved Communities $161M in 2017 - Charlotte Lozier Institute (Susan B. Anthony)

Abortion Statistics - National Right to Life

Abortion Is Not an Unforgivable Sin - Jen Oshman

“You can be anything you want to be!” We hear it and say it all the time. We mean well. We want our kids to feel encouraged, believed in, and capable. But this phrase and way of thinking is actually wrecking havoc on us and our kids. It’s inflicting a heavy burden on our children who don’t take long to find out it’s not true. It causes anxiety, leads to unethical behaviors, and is far from a Biblical worldview. What then should we be saying to our kids? What kind of real, lasting, substantial hope can we offer them as we send them in to another school year? This phrase pervades our society, but have we really thought about the consequences of believing it and repeating it? Join me on this episode of All Things as we do just that.

No, honey, you can’t be anything you want to be. And that’s okay. - The Washington Post

Erica Reischer, PhD

The New City Catechism

The Truth Is You Are Not A #WorldChanger, And Neither Am I

“You can be anything you want to be!” We hear it and say it all the time. We mean well. We want our kids to feel encouraged, believed in, and capable. But this phrase and way of thinking is actually wrecking havoc on us and our kids. It’s inflicting a heavy burden on our children who don’t take long to find out it’s not true. It causes anxiety, leads to unethical behaviors, and is far from a Biblical worldview. What then should we be saying to our kids? What kind of real, lasting, substantial hope can we offer them as we send them in to another school year? This phrase pervades our society, but have we really thought about the consequences of believing it and repeating it? Join me on this episode of All Things as we do just that.

No, honey, you can’t be anything you want to be. And that’s okay. - The Washington Post

Erica Reischer, PhD

The New City Catechism

The Truth Is You Are Not A #WorldChanger, And Neither Am I